Revenge of the Fallen
by Starlightlovesya123
Summary: An alternative take on Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Tell me if you think I should continue it.


This had never been easy for her.

But, considering her talent, it had never been hard either.

She whirled around, kicking the robot square in the chest and then slicing through it with her blade.

"Done." She stated.

"Good. Again." She heard the deep voice of her master.

Another robot appeared, falling into the dark chamber where Shade was training through a hole in the wall, this one made out of a harder material. She knew from experience that this was the model T657, and that its eyes shot lasers.

She plunged her scythe into the ground and pushed off of it, thrusting herself into the air, dodging the lasers as they came bursting red and hot from the robot's eyes. She landed on the ground smoothly. As another laser came flying right at her, she angled her scythe and the laser reflected off of it, sending it back towards the robot, and cutting the robot right in two.

"Excellent, Shade. Again."

Shade was panting heavily now. She had been training for hours. "Master, are we quite done yet?" She asked as she ran towards the next robot, slicing through this one just as easily, only to find it regenerated whatever she cut off.

As she searched for a logical way to defeat this robot, her master answered her. "No, Shade, we are not. You must build up your endurance, have quicker reflexes, become faster. Our enemy is not one to be meddled with."

Shade could not argue with her master, for she knew that would only result in severe punishment. But…she was so much faster now. Her master had created countless speedy robots and she had ripped them all apart within seconds! How much more could he want from her?

But she was his prized student, his fiercest warrior, one of the greatest of the remaining Nocturnus Clan. She knew that and was willing to help him, to rebuild the Nocturnus Empire to the greatness it had once been. She would let nothing get in her way, as her master had taught her. All was inferior to the great Nocturnus. All that mattered was loyalty to the great Nocturnus.

And so she trained throughout the night.

Many, many miles away:

"Oo, yay. I get to go to the Gumdrop Forest."

Blaze sighed. You knew things had gotten bad when you started playing Candy Land with a blue hedgehog.

"Okay, Blazey, draw a card."

She did.

"Go back three spaces." She read.

Silver snickered from his position on the couch, where he was supposedly reading a book.

She moved her cardboard figure back three spaces, before aiming a kick at Silver.

"OW!" He cried, clutching his foot, which Blaze had just stomped on rather violently.

"Your turn, Sonic." She sighed and turned back to the board game.

They all were waiting for Tails to return and give them some news. They didn't care what kind of news. Just ANYTHING. Ever since Eggman had disappeared, life had been a constant bore. Constant.

Which would explain the Candy Land game and how Silver now apparently knew how to read.

Knuckles was sitting on the couch as well, flipping through the TV channels. As much as he well knew there was nothing on he wanted to watch, flipping was still better than just sitting.

"And so the-"

"Today, we-"

"The weather is-"

"Robert, NO!-"

"To clean up-"

"Five of the world's greatest love songs-"

"What will happen to our heroes next?-"

"Then we-"

"OXI CLEAN!-"

"WOULD YOU CUT THAT OUT?!" Amy came storming into the room, carrying her giant hammer.

Knuckles instantly turned off the TV, stiffening.

"Thank you." She smiled sweetly, then left the room.

Shadow was sitting on the windowsill, staring at the table. It was quite funny to watch, actually. 'Cause he NEVER moved. I mean NEVER. And, if you looked closely enough, you could see that his eyes were starting to bulge and become watery from not blinking. This only made him look deranged. But it was the only thing he could think to do, which itself was funny, as Shadow always knew what to do. This shows you how truly desperate the situation had become.

Rouge was painting her toenails for about the fiftieth time that day, and she realized she was discovering new colors as she mixed different nail polish together.

Cream was eating cheese. No, not CHEESE! Just cheese. Like, the food. Oh, never mind.

But, for the most part, nothing was happening. Nothing.

That is, until Tails came crashing through the roof of the house.

"HOLY MOTHER OF--!!!!!" Blaze screamed as the X-Tornado landed in the middle of the room.

A giant cloud of dust and smoke filled the room and all anyone could hear was one another coughing and sputtering.

"Tails! TAILS!" Sonic shouted over everyone. He rushed to the ruins of the X-Tornado, trying to dig through them. "Knuckles, help me!" He exclaimed.

Knuckles climbed his way over the now-broken couch where he and Silver had been sitting only moments ago, and helped Sonic lift some of the broken machine.

"Tails! Tails, buddy, you there?!" Sonic called into the heap, as it was still difficult to see.

"Unghhh…" Was the only reply they heard.

"Silver, open up the damn window!" Knuckles shouted to Silver.

Silver immediately opened it and the smoke slowly began to filter out of the room. Knuckles threw a piece of the Tornado aside to reveal a dazed, two-tailed fox.

He had a cut on his forehead but other than that he seemed unharmed. Everyone sighed in relief.

"What-what happened?" He asked, shaking his head.

"You tell us." Sonic replied, as Amy grabbed a cloth and started tending to Tails' forehead. "We were waiting for you and all of the sudden you've landed in the middle of my living room."

"Uh…strange…I must have…" Tails rubbed his head again. "I…I can't remember what happened."

Blaze gave Sonic a worried look. "Maybe we should take him to the hospital." She said.

Sonic nodded, looking slightly worried himself. Maybe after Tails got some rest he would remember how or who had caused him to crash.

About an hour earlier:

Sweat dripped from Shade's brow and she felt as though she might faint from exhaustion. This robot was the most difficult she had had to face yet. She had now been fighting it for nearly two hours.

She sprang towards it again, aiming her scythe at the strange glowing gem on the top of its head, only to be knocked aside by one of its giant arms.

"Focus, Shade!" Her master called to her.

_What does he think I'm trying to do?! _Shade couldn't help but think.

"Blade Rush!" She cried out and zipped towards the robot, slashing at it twice with her scythe.

But to no avail. The arms of the robot kept her from even reaching its main body.

She was getting rather irritated. She sprang up into the air, spinning around and around, aiming her scythe and…

The robot grabbed Shade with its arms, throwing her to the floor. She skidded across it, dirt filling her eyes and mouth. She spat it out and rubbed her eyes, but gasped as giant, robotic hands closed around her neck. She gasped for breath as the hands tightened, strangling her.

"Lord Ix!" She cried out to her master, struggling to be free.

Her master did nothing.

She was losing air fast and couldn't find more. She kicked her arms and legs out, trying to make contact with the robot, but all she hit was air.

She was beginning to lose her eye-sight and her strength. "Lord…Lord Ix…please." She gasped.

"Find its weakness. Use it against him." Was the only response.

The robot's hands squeezed tighter and Shade choked for air.

Shade was dying. She knew it. But, WHY?! She had come so far! What had she done wrong?! She had done everything her master had asked, trained for days and days, weeks and weeks, months and months, until every muscle in her body ached so terribly that she could hardly sleep.

The walls began to spin around her and her head twirled. Around and around and around and around. She had to think of something. And fast. But all she had was her scythe. And that had already proven unworthy against the robot's strength.

Then she remembered something she had learned back long ago, when she was a child. Her father had been teaching her to study the beautiful world around her, and to learn to use it and make it even better. He had given her a magnifying glass and told her to go look inside the grass, and see how even the smallest of creatures made a difference.

She had rushed outside with the magnifying glass and immediately began searching through the grass, giggling at the silly ants that rushed past her fingertips. She studied each individual piece of grass with a childlike wonder.

One piece of grass in particular, however, had caught her attention. On the grass, an ant was trying to harvest a piece of grain. She angled the magnifying glass differently, trying to get a better look.

Suddenly, the piece of grass had lit on fire. Shade had let out a surprised yelp, and ran to her parents, sobbing, telling them that she hadn't meant to kill the poor little ant.

Her parents had only chuckled, telling her that light reflected off of mirrors and through magnifying glasses, and if held there long enough, might occasionally start a fire.

Shade rushed back out of her memory.

Her scythe was extremely reflective.

There was a small window, but a window nonetheless at the top of the left wall.

And, this dummy contained kerosene.

It was a terribly slim chance, but the only chance she had left.

"Please, please let this work!" She cried and with the last bit of her strength, threw the scythe at the ceiling.

The sharp blade pierced through the rocky ceiling, just as Shade fell unconscious.

Suddenly, the robot screeched, letting Shade drop to the ground.

It spun around, desperately trying to rid itself of the fire suddenly burning it away. And then, it exploded. But, Lord Ix had been smart enough to create a shield around it, causing the explosion to only be contained in one small area.

Shade's eyes bulged open and she sucked in a huge breath, coughing and choking. She watched as her master walked towards her, his long, white beard trailing across the dirt floor.

"Well done, Shade." He said.

Shade looked around her, utterly confused."But…but, how? I was certain…I was certain I was dead…The chances of the light hitting the blade exactly the way it did…The chances of me surviving...Impossible." She shook her head.

"No. Not impossible," Her master answered. "Which is precisely why you are living right now, Shade."

"But, how, my Lord?" She gazed up at him.

"Your scythe did nothing, my dear. Yes, that would have been nearly impossible. You see, this was a test to show you defeat. What it feels like to be defeated."

Shade raised an eyebrow, still not understanding.

"The robot was programmed to self-destruct as soon as you gave up, Shade. As soon as you lost hope. As soon as everything you had ever worked for came tumbling down."

"But, sir…why? I've been defeated before, why did I need this test?" Shade asked her master, struggling to her feet.

"To feel fear, Shade. To feel hopelessness. To feel the bitter claws of death close around your heart. To want revenge." Her master turned to her, his eyes blazing. "Just as I have wanted revenge for what has happened to the Nocturnus Clan."

Shade stepped back, surprised by the ferocity of her Lord's eyes. "Do you feel it now, Shade? That want to never be that close to death again? That want to never be starved of anything again? That want for revenge?"

And Shade realized she did. She had never felt something so terrible in her life, that feeling of death. Now she knew what thousands of echidnas before her had felt. And she was angry.

"Come with me, Shade, and we shall create a new Nocturnus empire. We shall vanquish our enemies. We shall gain our revenge. If you follow me, I promise you, you will never feel death come near you again." Lord Ix told her.

Shade gazed into her master's burning eyes. "I will follow you." She answered.

"Lord Ix! Sir! An unknown aircraft has made its way into the atmosphere!" Another echidna came racing down the stairs.

"Get rid of it." Lord Ix growled.

"Yes, er, yes, sir! Right away!" The echidna stuttered, then ran back up the stairs.

Lord Ix turned swiftly around. "Come, Shade," He said. "The time has come."

**Eh, I'm not sure what to think about it right now. I may leave this as a one-shot, depending upon what you guys think. Anyways, hope you liked it!**


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